Kim Lembo

Kim Lembo - Ready to Ride - 1999 - Blue Wave

Kim's Blues/Rock vocal inflections would remind you of some of the great 60's Blues revivalists. She has being accused in the past of "trying too hard", and singing in an "over the top" Janis Joplin style. It is unfair to make comparisons with great singers like Joplin or Etta James, as Blues covers a multitude of vocal styles, and instrumental techniques which makes the genre so . Regardless of these trivial "criticisms", Kim always puts real emotion and feeling into her singing, and lends her strong bluesy voice to good cover versions of Tampa Red's "Love Crazy" and Otis Rush's "Keep on Lovin' Me Baby". "Ready to Ride" is an excellent album from Kim, and her terrific back up band. Kim Simmonds of the great Savoy Brown is a guest musician on this album which is HR by A.O.O.F.C. Buy Kim's great album "Kim Lembo & Blue Heat - Paris Burning: Live at the Chesterfield Cafe". There is info on her "Blue Heat" album @ KLEMBO/BLUEH For more music of this type check out the "Midnight Flyer (With Maggie Bell)" album @ MBELL&MFLYER

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1 Love to Ride - Sykes
2 Keep on Lovin' Me Baby - Rush
3 Outside Love - Cosgrove
4 It's Love Baby/Four Full Seasons of Love - Jarrett
5 Sunday Morning - Lembo
6 Mean Old Daddy - Newell
7 Stop - Ragovoy, Shuman
8 Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City - Price, Walsh
9 Love Crazy - Tampa Red
10 Goin' to the Church - Butler

MUSICIANS

Kim Lembo - Vocals
Mark Doyle, Terry Mulhauser - Guitar
Scott Ebner - Hammond B-3 organ
Mark Nann - Piano, Organ, Background vocals
Joel Kane, Paul "Big Daddy" LaRonde - Bass
Mark Tiffault, Rob Spagnoletti - Drums
Julius Williams - Percussion
Pete McMahon - Harp
Kim Simmonds - Dobro

REVIEW

Kim Lembo is a real-deal blues-beltin' house mama, and her third full-length album for Blue Wave finds her in top form. Although she writes and contributes "Sunday Morning" to the ten songs collected here, Ms. Lembo's strong suit is interpreting, and her pick of the litter on this outing includes takes on Otis Rush's "Keep On Lovin' Me Baby" (originally issued on her Steamers promo sampler), Keith Sykes' "Love to Ride," Tampa Red's "Love Crazy," a medley of "It's Love Baby" and Son Seals' "Four Full Seasons of Love," and Tom Cosgrove's "Outside Love." As usual, there's loads of top-notch playing aboard from her band Blue Heat, featuring Mark Doyle on guitar, with guest shots along the way from Scott Ebner on organ, Paul "Big Daddy" LaRonde on bass, Mark Tiffault on drums, Pete McMahon on harp and Kim Simmonds on dobro. Stellar versions of "Stop," "Mean Old Daddy," "Ain't No Love In the Heart of the City" and a tribute to the late Lester Butler in his "Goin' to the Church" complete this top-notch session. © Cub Koda, allmusic.com

SHORT BIO

Along with her band Blue Heat, blues vocalist Kim Lembo recorded several albums for Blue Wave beginning in 1994. The Syracuse, NY-based vocalist worked with multi-instrumentalist/producer Mark Doyle for her debut album, which she named after her band. Two years later, she again worked with Doyle for her follow-up, Mama Lion. During this time in the mid-'90s, Lembo built a sizable following in New York state, where she continued to perform on a regular basis and win much acclaim. By the time Blue Wave released her third album, Ready to Ride (1999), she'd built quite a following. This growing audience resulted in an opportunity to perform a series of shows in Paris during January 2000 at the Chesterfield Cafe. These shows were later compiled on the Paris Burning album released later that year. © Jason Birchmeier, allmusic.com